It has become increasingly common for people to access media content over networks for use on computing devices. The Internet, in particular, has facilitated downloading and streaming of a wide availability of digital content. Many people are using network access to find, retrieve, and enjoy streaming media rather than relying on traditional content delivery methods such as over-the-air reception, cable transmission, satellite audio/video, and other distribution sources that push media to users typically on a scheduled basis that the user cannot control.
One particular difficulty with streaming media over the internet is limited bandwidth between a person's computing device and a host. Many people experience undesirable delays in receipt of streaming media or interruptions during play of the stream of media. One solution to expedite receipt of a stream of media to a computing device is to lower the quality of the media, such as by reducing a bit rate associated with the stream of media. However, people often desire the highest quality stream of media possible, which may vary based on a network connection bandwidth. Therefore, it is desirable to improve the quality of streaming media while reducing interruptions that people find undesirable while receiving streaming media.